TORQUEMADA, THOMAS. - Nephew of the preceding, born at Valladolid around 1420, died at Avila on 16 September 1498. He became a Dominican in the convent of St. Paul of Valladolid in the Congregation of the strict observance.
He was prior at Segovia, confessor of the sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella and a member of their Council. In 1479 he was engaged in founding the monumental convent of St. Thomas of Avila. He was charged by the sovereigns with organizing the Tribunal of the Inquisition, and he soon became its head for Castile on 26 August and for Aragon on 17 October 1483, and he dictated its laws: Compilación de las Instrucciones de la santa Inquisición, taking as his basis the legislation of the medieval inquisition, modified in its constitution according to the sovereigns' interests. Rigid in his principles, he aimed at the religious unification of Spain, for which he considered the expulsion of the Jews and rigorous surveillance over the converts to be necessary; however, the number of those tried and condemned cannot be determined (as has been attempted), for it was certainly much exaggerated for polemical reasons.
Bibliography5 worksF. Fita, La inquisición de T. Secretos íntimos, in Boletín de la R. Acad. de la Historia, 23 (1893), pp. 369-434; C. Cienfuegos, Breve reseñ
BIBL.: F. Fita, La inquisición de T. Secretos íntimos, in Boletín de la R. Acad. de la Historia, 23 (1893), pp. 369-434; C. Cienfuegos, Breve reseña histór. del R. Convento de s. Tomás de Avila, Madrid 1895; H. C. Lea, History of the Inquisition in Spain, London-New York 1906-1908; M. Menendez y Pelayo, Hist. de los Heterodoxos Españoles, latest ed., 3 vols., Madrid 1911-12 (v. index); W. Th. Walsh, Isabel de España, Burgos 1937, ch. 19. Cf. also the bibliography of the entry INQUISIZIONE.
Paschini, Pio. “Torquemada, thomas.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, col. 331. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/torquemada-thomas.
MLA
Paschini, Pio. “Torquemada, thomas.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, col. 331. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/torquemada-thomas.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec12_torquemada_thomas,
author = {Paschini, Pio},
title = {Torquemada, thomas},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XII},
pages = {331},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1954},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/torquemada-thomas}
}
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